How we can use stories and objects to imagine the future
When we think about time, what exactly comes to mind? Was it your last great haircut, your recent headache, a trip tomorrow to your in-laws, or maybe the luxury of your next vacation? All of these events live in your mind, maybe not all at once, but they exist to some degree. A key question I pose is are all these events equally real?
According to the scientific community, the dominant view of these discrete moments is yes, they are in fact “equally real.” Scientists, more specifically physicists, point to the idea of the block universe — a view of all things that exist as 1) Points in space and 2) Points in time. It’s to our benefit that Albert Einstein did the math. He shows us that space and time are critically linked through his theory of relativity. So what does this say about ourselves? More importantly, what does this say about what we can or should do in the future? Are we really a free spirit or are we predestined to just live a life that was written out for us?
We live in a world of events and objects
One area to help us navigate this puzzle and imagine the future are methods of Futures and Foresight, a design and critical thinking practice where we can examine and investigate events and objects to determine what kind of personal futures are available and also determine those futures we really want. (to clarify, events can be seen as fleeting moments, weak signals and trends, whereas objects can be seen as those physical manifestations in our world)
In Futures and Foresight, A common framework of how we explore futures had been introduced by Joseph Voros (2017). He gives us The Futures Cone, where futures are developed as Probable, Plausible, Possible, Provocative (Preposterous) and Preferred. These futures help us understand the question of time. In these varying directions, time is of importance as it speaks to potential directions (and horizons) we link as a series of events to create the existence of different and alternative scenarios. According to methods proposed by foresight practitioners, we can use weak signals in today’s world such as smaller trends to help us experiment with these events that might occur and affect our future state well being.
In contrast to events, there is also another frame we must consider in imagining the future which is that of assemblage(A-space). Just as there are events that live in the past, present and potential future, there are also objects that exist that provide states of information. In contemplating the nature of objects over time, there’s no more puzzling example than that of the Schrödinger’s cat thought experiment. In this example, Erwin Schrödinger, a renown Austrian physicist, asks us what happens to a cat if we place it in a box with a 50% chance of it dying due to a radioactive trigger? Explained by the principles of quantum physics, the cat is both dead and alive in the box only until we open the box to discover the outcome — that the cat is either dead or alive. The influence of our personal observation determines the outcome of the event. Simply put, if we don’t observe the cat, it theoretically exists in multiple places at one time, all according to quantum mechanics.
The takeaway here is that no matter where the object is, if we observe, it will have an impact on its manifestation. As an experiment, that observation happens in the now, as our subjective perception of time is also notably in the now. However, what if we are thinking and consciously observing objects in the future? Does this mean we are having an affect on their existence? Could we also be transmitting information? Does this make those objects also just as real? As a Sci-fi prototyper and follower of the block universe, I believe that answer is yes. With enough research and plausible execution, that reality is not only possible but is arguably happening according to physics. This is called the multiverse but we’ll save that conversation for another time.
For the reasons just mentioned, when creating future worlds, I feel it’s just as important to create objects as it is to create stories (scenarios) to solidify both the sketch and the form of a future narrative. I believe creating both helps us realize the most robust narratives and manifest the realities we desire and improve our chances of it happening. We can draw past examples from Star Trek’s communicator that inspired the cell phone and PAADs from 2001: A Space Odyssey that inspired the tablet.
Wishing and making things tangible
In my day job at Cision and formerly at McKinsey Design, one of the main tasks businesses have asked is trying to imagine newer and better ways to use insights and business intelligence. By using user needs, market analysis, tech feasibility, weak signals and trends, it’s expected that we deliver “innovation” — the scaffolding of a new reality that leapfrogs our competition. In Futures and Foresight, one of the distinct ways we’ve approached this at the firm was through the combination of scenarios and speculative design. As a member of the futures tribe at McKinsey Design we came up with a slogan that tried to embrace the speculative nature of foresight combined with the tangibility of experience design:
“Design x Foresight is an innovation approach that helps companies imagine new possible futures and makes them tangible through the analysis of trends, creation of scenarios and speculative design.”
Moving from stories to objects
Keeping this tangibility at the heart, I‘m excited to speak about this topic at Harvard’s RealityXDesign conference to share some of my frameworks and objects I’ve created, and used for my Sci FI book in development called “The Program.” During my process, I’ve used these approaches to help me imagine new landscapes, scenes, chapters and the world at large connecting it closer to my creative writing.
Below I’ve linked those methods. The use of Scenarios and Design Fiction have helped me with narratives well enough that things become so real that I have no issues with suspension of disbelief. All things just ebb and flow as part of the new reality.
This post may be edited in the future for updates.
Also, please follow my Medium if you’re interested in receiving more info about my book. 😃 I’d also love to hear if you have additional methods that help your world-building process!
